Well here I am. Sitting on the patio of our amazing lodgings here in Quiche, Guatemala. I sometimes wake up and forget where I am. It’s strange that after so many, many months of waiting that I’m finally here. Finally reunited with the squad. Finally doing what I’ve felt so strongly about for so long. But I digress. Lemme tell you about my journey thus far.
We woke up at 4:30 AM to head to the Atlanta airport to get on our plane to Guatemala. I imagine we were all expecting different things. I know I wasn’t expecting what I found. When we arrived in the Guatemala City airport I walked outside and felt weather that seemed like early winter in Mississippi. The first person I talked to was a man named Gustavo. Gustavo was holding a piece of paper with my name on it to signify that he would be driving my whole squad and I to Quiche. Gustavo spoke perfect English. One expectation down. We drove caravan style through the winding roads of Guatemala. It’s a country full of mountains and wide green expanses, so the drive was amazing. We ate delicious food along the way and were set to arrive on time, just as planned. As a logistics leader, this meant everything was going stellar. That was until the traffic suddenly stopped on a road in the middle of a mountain town.
Not so stellar. Apparently there had been a terrible accident in which 5 people had fallen off a cliff due to mudslide. It was terrible. Suddenly it didn’t matter when we got to our contact’s house. It’s so crazy to see how a group of 46 people passionate for God respond to things. People grouped together and started praying, and hoping for the best of the situation.
After we had been in the same spot for almost 2 hours, several of us decided that we should get some water for the whole squad. Being logistics, I have an account I can use for logistical matters. So I was brought along to pick up the tab on 7 gallons of water. After getting the water to the squad, the traffic suddenly picked up and we were off again. I crawled up to the front seat of the bus (which can be both the most terrifying and coolest place to sit), where I started removing things from my pockets. My logistics cell phone, my headphones (for some reason), and my logistics credit card. Except… There was no credit card.
I want you to put yourself in my shoes for a brief moment. This is my first day on the job as a logistics leader. We haven’t even made it to our contact’s house. It’s the middle of the night in Guatemala and we’re now at least a mile from where we bought the water. Panic was an understatement. One thing they taught us is that if something is going wrong, keep up a confident demeanor so you don’t freak out the squad. So on the outside I was eagerly anticipating our arrival. On the inside, however, there was rumbling fury of emotions. First shock, then anger, then a bit of sadness. Finally a huge pang of inferiority. I have a tendency to beat myself up for my mistakes. Especially when they come while I’m in charge of something. I also tend to try and handle things completely on my own, which is why I didn’t say anything to anyone when I realized the card was lost. Keep these two tendencies of mine in mind.
Suddenly it dawned on me that I needed to pray. And pray hard. So pray I did. I laughed with God that this would happen on my first day. I asked for peace and calm in what to do. Asked for a great deal of guidance. I asked for help. I think I was hoping for a miracle. Not a subtle one either. Like, I think I was hoping for the card to materialize in my hands or something. After praying I pulled out my tiny flip book and began to write furiously. I wrote about what I needed to do to make it right, as in cancel the card and order a new one. I was organizing my thoughts to hit the ground running when we arrived. Only then I started writing about those tendencies I mentioned earlier. How I have such a hard time asking for help, and an even harder time with blaming myself so strongly.
I felt like God was telling me that mistakes happen all the time. That it doesn’t matter because He always has my back. That He believes in me no matter how many credit cards I lose. That asking for help doesn’t make you weak, it makes you much stronger.
After 45 minutes of the craziest range of emotions I’ve felt in some time, I closed my flip book and sat. I was calm. I wasn’t worried anymore. It was then that a thought occurred to me. So I grabbed my head lamp and looked on the floor by my feet. Low and behold… The credit card. I laughed loudly. Loud enough to where everyone on the bus was asking me what the heck was wrong with me. The joy and relief was immense.
God taught me a lesson about myself on the first day of the World Race in a 45 minute span. All over a credit card. That was practically touching my feet.
Can you even imagine what He has cooking for me and W squad this month? This year? I can’t.
More blogs to come (especially photos). Cause… A lot can happen in a week.
Until next contact,
Seth
